Small Town, Big Dreams Scholarship

"You're just a small town girl." Yes I am. "You'll go places." Thank you, ma'am. Small town girl. With big city dreams. That's who I am. That's my dream. That's how I want to live. My dream is to become an International Marketing Manager. My dream is to travel the world and meet people from all walks of life, to explore everything our world has to offer and give back. My dream is to continue dreaming. After being the world’s customer for my entire life, I want to try to be its assistant. I want to work behind the scenes to help the world become a better marketplace, and I dream of beginning my journey by studying Marketing and International Business at Emory University. The world is constantly changing, growing, evolving. It is unpredictable. People are unpredictable. So markets continue to amaze me with their ability to predict consumer demands. Outside of my town, in New York, Atlanta, JFK International Airport, China, and Puerto Rico, I noticed different models of food service, retail, and entertainment, and their ways of addressing unique needs. Even though I stayed on opposite sides of the world, in completely different environments, I felt at home. The marketplace knew just what I needed and gave it to me. I hope to return the favor. Although a perfectly laid out blueprint of the future has my attention, what really intrigues me is the challenge in working to understand consumer behavior. My many trips solidified my aspirations. I want to be the person who steps up and takes on the challenge of addressing needs. I want to share the experience of fulfillment with others by furthering my knowledge of business and cultures. My dream does not stop in college. I dream of working for a Fortune Global 500 corporation. I dream of flying to a different country every week to interact and understand people from all walks of life. I dream of shaking hands with individuals "Time" lists as the most influential people. I dream of joining the remarkable individuals on the list. I dream of bettering lives with my marketing proposals and becoming an addition to the global market that reaches people in every corner of the earth. To dream is easy, but to bring to life such dreams is harder to express, for dreams do not work unless I take the first step--and follow up with the next step. I will take the initiative in college by joining business events and interacting with individuals that share the small dream like mine. Together, we will bring to life our global dream by applying our genuine spirit to learn and our creativity sparked by passion. The journey to achieving my dream requires many checkpoints, but the checkpoints simultaneously serve as reminders to not forget where I come from, where I want to go, and why I am here. I come from a town with one grocery store. I want to go to Seoul, to Dubai, to Capetown, to Moscow, to Barcelona, to Rio de Janeiro. I am here because I want to change my life; I want to change others' lives.